Saturday, August 10, 2019

So, what can we DO? Action Steps from the Coalition Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence

Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence<macopgv@gmail.com>
To  alfredjohnson34@comcast.net  
The Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence stands with the APA in their statement:
“Routinely blaming mass shootings on mental illness is unfounded and stigmatizing. Research has shown that only a very small percentage of violent acts are committed by people who are diagnosed with, or in treatment for, mental illness. The rates of mental illness are roughly the same around the world, yet other countries are not experiencing these traumatic events as often as we face them. One critical factor is access to, and the lethality of, the weapons that are being used in these crimes. Adding racism, intolerance and bigotry to the mix is a recipe for disaster."

Research and common sense bears this out as shown in this article and the additional articles on our Facebook page . Mental illness and video games are just as prevalent in Canada, the UK and Australia, but their gun death rates are a fraction of ours. And important new research out of the BU School of Public Health shows that passing three key gun sense laws can reduce gun violence by over 30 percent. 
So, what can we DO? Our grass-roots movement needs to drown out the lies of the gun lobby.
Here’s how we’ll do it:
At the state level:

- Invite someone from the Coalition to speak at your church or temple or club or school or other organization by emailing us here . Let’s get the truth out!

- Share this email with friends and family in other parts of the country and post the links above on social media. Spread the facts!

- Continue to be our Action Ally or member organization!

- Work to pass our current legislative priority, H.2045/S.1388 An Act Relative to Crime Gun Data Reporting and Analysis . This important bill will help us stem the flow of crime guns to our streets. Stay tuned for details on when the public hearing will be. We need you there to show your support!

- Save the date and join us at our next Quarterly Meeting  on September 17 at 11:00am   at More Than Words. More details to follow.

At the federal level:

- Sign up to work with our member organization Moms Demand Action via their Gun Sense Action Network here . Volunteers call gun sense voters in other states and ask them to call their own legislators on key gun safety laws such as universal background checks.


The news is heart-wrenching. But take action with us now, and “never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” (Margaret Mead)

In solidarity,
Janet Goldenberg
Jen Muroff
Co-chairs, Legislative Action
Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence
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Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence | 18 Tremont St, Boston , MA 02108
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Nothing but net Bernie Sanders 2020

Bernie Sanders 2020<info@berniesanders.com>
To  alfred johnson  

Alfred -
On Tuesday, Bernie Sanders:
Bernie speaking at podium, pointing for emphasis.
Walked on stage at a rally in Long Beach, California:
Bernie walking on stage at Long Beach rally, shaking hands with cheering supporters.
And spoke to thousands of Californians who are ready to fight for economic, racial, social, and environmental justice:
High angle shot of large crowd listening to Bernie speak at Long Beach rally
Earlier in the day, he met with a huge group at an Affordable Housing Town Hall in Northridge:
View from crowd of cheering supporters and Bernie speaking on stage at Northridge town hall.
At the town hall, Bernie addressed the crowd standing in front of a 350-year old Torah that was recovered from Poland during the Holocaust:
Bernie speaking at podium in front of 350-year old Torah recovered from Poland during the Holocaust
The day before that, Bernie held a HUGE Immigration Town Hall in Vista, California. 1,500 people attended on short notice.
View from large crowd of Bernie speaking on stage at immigration town hall in Vista, CA
After the town hall, Bernie met with supporters:
Bernie hugging supporter.
He even took a moment to stop by an arcade in San Diego. The trip was nothing but net:
Bernie at an arcade shooting a basketball
And the success of this trip is in large part because of you, alfred.
Your support is building an unprecedented grassroots movement that is bringing millions of people together to elect Bernie Sanders and transform our country.
And unlike some of the other candidates, Bernie doesn't travel the country asking wealthy people to write $2,800 checks. Instead, he travels the country talking to voters. But that means we have to ask in emails like this one to help power our campaign:
Can you make another contribution to our campaign so Bernie can continue organizing around the country?
If you've saved payment info with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately:
EXPRESS DONATE: $100
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EXPRESS DONATE: $350
EXPRESS DONATE: $500
EXPRESS DONATE: $1000
OR DONATE ANOTHER AMOUNT
I am proud of what this campaign is building. Thank you for being a part of making it happen.
Faiz Shakir
Campaign Manager

Contributions in response to emails like this one means Bernie can spend his time traveling the country and talking to voters instead of begging rich people for money at fundraisers. But it also means we have to ask:






 
Paid for by Bernie 2020
(not the billionaires)
PO BOX 391, Burlington, VT 05402
This email was sent to alfredjohnson34@comcast.net. If you need to, unsubscribe here. You can also sign up to receive fewer emails. We hope you'll stay, because emails are such an important part of how we organize and how we raise money. In fact, there is no single greater source for our campaign's fundraising than emails like this one. And that's important, because no one person, not even Bernie Sanders, can take on Trump and the billionaire class alone.
Before you go about the rest of your day, help power our fight against the billionaire class by making a contribution today.
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Pastoral Letter on the El Paso Shootings Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis

Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis<info@poorpeoplescampaign.org>
To  alfredjohnson34@comcast.net  
If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever. But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless.—Jeremiah 7:5-8
Alfred,
One week ago, we were in El Paso at the invitation of the Border Network for Human Rights to highlight the violence that their community has been suffering. We heard stories of families separated, asylum seekers turned away and refugees detained like prisoners of war. We heard how their community has been militarized and how poor border communities have been especially targeted. We promised that we would do everything in our power to compel the nation to see this violence. Just a few days later, a terrorist opened fire in El Paso. And then another attack occurred in Dayton.
In reflecting on these outbreaks of violence, our hearts are broken. This moment demands a moral reckoning with who we are and who we want to become as a nation.
The truth is that, while every generation has worked to push us toward becoming a more perfect union, we have also tolerated lies that beget violence. America’s founding fathers spoke of liberty, while drafting documents that called Native Americans savages, accepted the enslavement of Africans, and ignored the voices of women. This hypocrisy created space for slaveholder religion to bless white supremacy, pseudo-science to justify eugenics, a sick sociology to pit people against one another, and predatory policies to scapegoat non-white immigrants and blame poverty on the poor.
Politicians who try to denounce the racism of an individual, but do not denounce racist policies refuse to deal with the depths of the problems we face. We cannot address the violence of white nationalism without stopping the policies of white nationalism and the lies that are told to justify them. In 1963, George Wallace began to spew racist rhetoric from the governor’s office in Alabama. By the end of that year, Medgar Evers was dead, four girls in a church were dead, and a President was dead because these words and these policies were a breeding ground for violence. It always has been that way. Whenever we've had these words and policies, they have also unleashed this kind of violence.
For this reason, we call on President Trump, Members of Congress and Presidential Candidates, our people on the ground in movements and communities of struggle, people who have embraced the lies of white nationalism, and our religious leaders and people of faith and conscience to revive the heart and soul of this country.
Mr. President, we recognize that you are a symptom of our decaying moral fabric and you have ignited a modern day wildfire. The coals of white nationalism are always smoldering in our common life, and they have fueled the violence of indigenous genocide, slavery, lynching and Jim Crow. Stop stoking the fires of violence with racist words and policies. Mr. President, you must repent in word and deed if your leadership is to bring us together, rather than tearing us apart.
To Members of Congress and our elected representatives, we ask you to ensure our domestic tranquility. You can take immediate action to stop the President’s racist attacks on immigrants. You can act to ensure voting rights, pass gun reform to keep weapons of war out of our communities, end federal programs that send military equipment to our local and state police departments, pass immigration reform that allows us all to thrive and build up the country, ensure good jobs and living wages and relief from our debts, and guarantee health care and social programs that meet our needs. The lies of white nationalism have prevented action on all of these issues, and those who have enabled the President or remained silent are culpable.
As you return to Washington D.C., we call on Congress to honor the August 28 anniversary of the March on Washington and the murder of Emmett Till by passing an Omnibus Bill that offers a comprehensive response to the systemic racism that connects the issues facing 140 million poor and low-wealth people in this country.
To all candidates running for President in 2020, we call on you to address both the violence of racism and the policies of racism and white nationalism in the public debates. We ask you to connect these policies of systemic racism to poverty, ecological devastation, the war economy, militarism and a distorted moral narrative that accepts, justifies and perpetuates systemic violence.
To our movements and organizations on the ground, do not go back to your silos; instead we must build a moral fusion movement. We have been organizing in separate streams, often along lines of race, issue area or geography, but we need much more than our own fights can win. This is not the time to become entrenched in those divisions. We need to come together across race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, issue, geography and other lines of division to make a fight for everything we need and make sure we are all in — nobody is out.  
To those who have embraced the lies of white nationalism and racism, we humbly recognize the power of fear. We live in a time when many people do not know if they will have work today or health care tomorrow. Many families do not know what agency is coming for them or their children. We do not know who to trust and have been left to fend for ourselves and whoever we believe to be on our side. Let us find strength in our pain, mourn our losses, and remember that we are all part of a common human family. Let us reject every attempt by politicians and corporate interests to pit us against one another. Let us confess that white nationalism is a myth that has not served most people, even those it claims to protect. Let us fight for each other and for a world where everyone can thrive.
To our religious leaders and people of faith, we call on you to offer moral leadership in the public square. If you have condoned the lies of white nationalism or remained silent, you have failed to keep your sacred vows. We ask you to recall the struggles of our ancestors so we can work together to build up a more perfect union in our common life.

Forward together, not one step back.
Rev. Dr. William Barber, II, President, Repairers of the Breach and Co-Chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival
Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, Director, Kairos Center for Religions, Rights and Social Justice and Co-Chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival
Rev. Teresa Ward Owens, General Minister and President of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Rabbi Rick Jacobs, President, Union for Reform Judaism
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critical early investments Joseph Geevarghese [Our Revolution]

Joseph Geevarghese [Our Revolution]<info@ourrevolution.com>
To  alfredjohnson34@comcast.net  


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